It's one of the world's hottest summers for Cuba since the last few years and what would usually be people doing at this time of the year? Drinking beer. This beer extinction crisis has lead Cubans to pay super high prices for beers on stores. Now everybody starts to point fingers. The beer shortage was blamed to the deficiency of the raw materials used to create beer. This recurring shortage reveals that the supply satisfies only 55 percent of the demand for beer. Reports also say that there has been a delay in the importation of malted beer from different suppliers.
A Chilean citizen recounted his efforts of traveling miles just to try in vain to purchase beers from department stores, grocery stores, and gas stations but to no success. He finally was able to buy one in increased rate from a restaurant. Jose Daniel, administrator of Havana Café shared that, 'Cuban's are beer people and this beer drought has been hurting sales.'
Although this chronic beer shortage has been painstaking to many manufacturers and small business owners, Cubans seem to have gotten used to the whole idea. In fact not only did they lack the supply for beers but also common commodities like cheese, milk and honey.
The reforms promoted by Raul Castro failed to address the problem and leads to the exacerbation of hoarding and panic buying of consumers for beer which may also be a factor contributing to the shortage of beer in Cuba. Department store owners fear chronic shortage of beer. This can be related after the 1959 revolution, the comprehensive embargo trade was implemented and the reforms that come with it resulted to the overproduction of some products and shortages of others. The failure of these reforms has greatly impacted the economy of Cuba now and will continue to impact Cuba in the near future.
